Court orders police to open a case on activists’ misconduct near Lavra

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv upheld the complaint from lawyers of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and ordered the district police department to enter information about the offence committed by anti-church activists near the monastery into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations and initiate an investigation on this matter, as reported on the Telegram channel of Father Nikita Chekman, the monastery's lawyer.

"For months, 'spiritual independence' activists have been attempting to disrupt the Orthodox Christian worship services," the lawyer noted. "These actions fall under Article 180 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which concerns obstructing the exercise of religious rites. Lawyers reached out to the police on September 13, 15, 18, 19, and 21. Law enforcement authorities ignored the rights of the UOC believers and did not prevent the criminal actions of the activists. They refused to initiate investigations into these crimes. Now, the court has ordered the police to fulfil their duties. And this is just one of the statements. There will be further decisions on others."

As reported, Father Nikita's colleague, lawyer Dmitry Tsvetov, turned to the court with a complaint about the inaction of the Pechersk Police Department, which did not include information from his statements about offences near the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations.

The UOJ also noted that, according to Father Nikita Chekman, Lavra's lawyers are present at the monastery's prayers every day and respond to offences committed by opponents of the UOC.